Week Forty-Four: Happy Thanksgiving!

November 20th (Monday): I was off, which was funny because I had a week off then worked two days then was off again. But I had a pretty chill day off after a busy week of fun. I went to Splitsville in the afternoon with some coworkers (Splitsville is the Disney Springs bowling alley), then we checked out the Christmas Tree Trail. The Christmas Tree Trail (I think that's the correct name?) is a trail in Disney Springs with fake snow and a bunch of Christmas trees with different themes. So obviously we took pictures with the Snow White and Dumbo trees.

We also got to see Alex's sister at work which was pretty cool. She works at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, turning little girls into princesses! After the Springs I went to Walmart to get my oil changed, and went grocery shopping for the first time in a month. NOTE TO SELF: WALMART TAKES TWO HOURS FOR AN OIL CHANGE.

November 21st (Tuesday): I was scheduled to work from 7:45am - 4:15pm, but got an ER for 2pm! We were so overstaffed that we had no fewer than SIX greeter positions up for the first half of the day. Work itself was great, I got picked up by a training group at merge, so I got to only do a half rotation at one of my least favorite positions, and I ended my shift in tower!! SO nice to end in a seat. Also there was a weird lady who wanted to talk to a manager because she wanted to go through FastPass without a FastPass. Obviously our coordinator didn't let her through, but that was weird. So I got to home early from work, went to Michaelene's house, then carpooled over to Jenna's place for Friendsgiving! Everyone brought something, and it was a solid mix of store-bought and homemade. We had all the classic dishes (turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, stuffing, etc.) but our friend Michelle also brought some classic Puerto Rican dishes which was super fun. We had so much food. Also a ton of people brought dessert, so we had apple pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, brownies, coconut pudding, and I think there might have been something else in there too. A really awesome night though (thanks Jenna!!).

November 22nd (Wednesday): I started the day off with a physical therapy appointment, then I WAS IN THE CIRCUS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ROUGHLY FIVE WEEKS. WHAT. So nice to be back. I worked from 2:30pm - 11pm and I had some awesome families at grouper that I got to chat with, including a couple from Scotland, and a few families with really sweet little kids. I was #blessed with pulling wheelchair assist TWICE, as well as Barnstormer grouper and main panel, all positions that I really enjoy. Then I pulled Dumbo rotation twice which is also positions I really like! So overall a great shift. Super busy though, we had an hour wait for Dumbo.

November 23rd (Thursday): I slept in super late, then had a Mine Train shift from 3pm - 9pm (DREAMS). I pulled FastPass twice (ew), but also pulled tower twice, so that made up for it. I had a few families wish me a Happy Thanksgiving, and we had a potluck at work which mostly consisted of cookies. Work was good, and after work I made Guinness stew! I forgot how long stew takes, however, so I had to stay up until 1:45am to finish it.

November 24th (Friday): I had another PT appointment (which I'm still sore from) in the morning, then I worked from 3pm - 12:45am in the circus. We were so understaffed that we had to close the play tent at like 7pm (cue angry mob). It was another BUSY day with Dumbo posting an 80-minute wait at one point. Also we had THREE lost kid situations, but we ended up finding the parents in all three situations, so all was well. I was at Dumbo the entire shift, and I got to close Dumbo with Kasia. Her end date is November 30th, so it was our last shift together ever :'(

November 25th (Saturday): Day off! I was off by myself, so I slept in until 1pm, which I haven't done in ages, then took my nice camera to Animal Kingdom! I actually missed the bus so first went to Epcot for like twenty minutes, then went from Epcot to DAK. I did Festival of the Lion King, Gorilla Falls, got a FP for Kilimanjaro Safari, and got a FP for Rivers of Light. Then I ended up on the same bus home as Jani, my roomie who works at FOLK!

November 26th (Sunday): BEST DAY EVER. I was supposed to be at the mine from 7:30am - 4pm, but I put in an ER for 12:30pm because I was exhausted and only got like four hours of sleep. The morning was rough though because Mine Train was ready to go, then something caused a non-resettable AKA the ride went down right before park open and we had a delayed opening. So people actually couldn't get in line until 8:35am instead of 8am. But people were really kind about it which was a pleasant surprise. I just did wheelchair assist, then worked a console, then went home. DREAMS PEOPLE. I went home and napped for three hours, then walked to Publix to pick up some groceries I forgot to get last time, and spent the evening in Disney Springs with the roomies! We went to Earl of Sandwich for dinner, then went and saw Coo that night. IT WAS SO GOOD. The whole theater was crying. It's fine. And yeah! That's about it.

Hopefully the busy week is over and we can have a breather before the crazy Christmas crowds :) Happy belated Thanksgiving!

Week Forty-Three: Family Visiting + IRATE Guests

November 13th (Monday): My family and I got up early to go to Universal, and spent the day there until we had to leave (around 2:45pm) to drop my sister off at the airport. Luckily Universal was pretty slow, so we had fairly short lines for all the rides. We started off at Universal, riding Gringotts and the Mummy, then took the Hogwarts Express to Islands of Adventure. At Islands we rode Spiderman, the castle ride (Forbidden Journey?), and Cat in the Hat. We ate lunch at Mythos and got a Butterbeer, then took the Hogwarts Express back over to Universal so we could check out both legs of the train. And that's about it! We took off to bring my sister to the airport to fly back to California.

After dropping Brita off we went back to our hotel to get ready for dinner at....get ready for it....VICTORIA AND ALBERTS. If you don't know what that is, it's the AAA five-diamond restaurant in the Grand Floridian. Fancy enough that it has a dress code. Basically one of the best seven course meals you'll ever have. I'll have to make a post just on the restaurant, but here are a few photos! We chose to add wine pairings, and it was the BEST meal I've ever had in my entire life. ALSO we got "free" valet parking and roses so we were feeling REAL fancy.

November 14th (Tuesday): My parents and I started our day off (I think?) in Animal Kingdom. We had FastPasses for Kilimanjaro Safari, Expedition Everest, and Na'vi River Journey. We also rode Primeval Whirl, watched Finding Nemo: The Musical, and watched Festival of the Lion King.

After DAK we had reservations for Sanaa (Animal Kingdom Lodge), where we got the Indian bread service, chicken, and desserts. SO filling but really fun food. Plus I got to use my 40% discount coupon! Tuesday night was late night Extra Magic Hours for Epcot, so we went to Epcot after dinner and rode Soarin' and Frozen Ever After.

November 15th (Wednesday): We started the morning off at Hollywood Studios, where we had FP's for Rockin' Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, and Star Tours. When we were in line for Tower, it had some technical difficulties causing us to wait roughly 35 minutes instead of 10-15, but they gave us a free FP, so we also got to do Toy Story Midway Mania with a FP. So we did all four rides that Studios has right now. We also watched the Little Mermaid show, checked out the Launch Bay theater, and saw the Frozen Sing-A-Long (always a good one). After Studios we went to MK and rode Pirates of the Caribbean and it's a small world (why is this ride title always lowercase?), and tried to ride Haunted Mansion, but it went down. We also did Mickey's Philharmagic, the very first guests in line after the attraction came back from a downtime. After that we got some yummy Sleepy Hollow waffles for dinner, and got a nice bridge spot for the fireworks! The first night we watched them, on Saturday, we were squished together and people blocked our view, so even though this view wasn't technically as good, it was much more enjoyable. We also stuck around for Once Upon A Time, which is really nice because no one stays for that show so the crowds are minimal.

November 16th (Thursday): This was our chill day since we had such a busy park schedule. In the morning I took my mom to Cast Connections, the cast only discount store, where we found a few GREAT finds. Then when we got back to the hotel and met up with my dad, we walked around the lake, checking out the other hotels (Yacht & Beach Club borders both the Swan & Dolphin Resort and the Boardwalk), and also got to check out our hotel pool. It was a great pool with two waterslides, two hot tubs, a mini lazy river, some waterfalls, and lots of different pool areas. After the pool we went to Disney Springs and got a salted caramel sundae from Ghiradelli, then went and saw Thor: Ragnorak, which was really funny. Then off to the Polynesian for an 'Ohana dinner! Dinner was good as always but CRAZY busy. We took the monorail to Magic Kingdom then transferred there to a bus back to our hotel and an early-ish night in.

November 17th (Friday): We spent most of the day in Magic Kingdom, doing the rides we didn't get to cover before (including SPLASH MOUNTAIN up from refurbishment!!). So we rode Peter Pan's Flight, Space Mountain, Winnie the Pooh, Splash Mountain (twice), Big Thunder Mountain, the Barnstormer, Mine Train, the PeopleMover, and did Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor where my dad was chosen to be Mike. Go dad! On our way out we got to run into my good friend Michaelene, killing it at Main Street PAC, and we also got to watch the Flag Retreat. A great sendoff to our day in MK.

We went to Epcot after that, and we shopped around the worlds a little bit, spending more time in the showcases than we had before. After Epcot we got cleaned up for dinner and ate at Yachtsman Steakhouse in our resort, obviously getting steak for dinner (REALLY GOOD filet mignon). The ambiance/atmosphere was really beautiful, and clearly ship-inspired which is totally my family's vibes. So we really enjoyed dinner, along with some drinks, and a couple desserts. Then a short walk back to the hotel!

November 18th (Saturday): We got breakfast at the Boardwalk Bakery, which was a great find, then walked a little around the lake again, stopping in a few places. The Christmas stuff went up, so we got to see the Yacht Club Christmas tree and train set, as well as the Beach Club Christmas tree and gingerbread carousel! Fun to see our resort totally transform without our noticing. We packed up our stuff, then I said goodbye to my parents and made my way home to get ready for work. I worked from 4:15pm - 12:45am and had a pretty good shift! It was hard going back to work after such a wonderful week off, but I kind of need to afford my rent, so off to work I go! I was Mine Train like always, and the day was uneventful, except the very end where I had this IRATE guest who wanted free FastPasses because our queue fans made him cold. Interesting, right?

November 19th (Sunday): I was at the mine again from 4:15pm - 12:45am, and I basically worked the same bits of rotation the entire shift. So I kept pulling the same positions after breaks, which then rotate to a different position (but a position that always comes after the first, so basically I worked four positions for my entire shift). We had this nasty guest situation though, where my grouper was measuring a girl who was too short to ride, but the family was PISSED and said she passed it out front and had ridden the ride twice already (she did, they had pictures). So that SUCKS for the family, but for safety reasons we can't let her ride, the height requirement is there for a reason. So my grouper is telling them this but they're livid (rightfully so) and want a manager, so I get to stand with them while we call my coordinator and they were awful. Well my coord comes by and talks to them and measures the kid and they're like "so she can ride right? She already rode it" and my coord is like "uh she's not even close". Hahaha. Of course he said it nicer than that and was really apologetic, taking them out front to re-measure and everything, but this family was NOT having it. They were saying our height sticks are different measurements, which is not true because we have to measure them both every morning. Well anyway, they made my grouper cry, but she was only doing her job. That's pretty much it! I closed merge, so I got to see the last guests in line and close out the queue, then head home!

I had the most wonderful week with my family and I was SO SAD to see them go, but I'm really glad I got to have the quality time with them that I did :) Love you guys, see you in January!! Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

Week Forty-Two: MRI, Famous People, and Family!

Another week full of the Mine Train.

November 6th (Monday): I had to wake up SUPER early to get an MRI on my ankle for an old injury that's been flaring up. My appointment was at 6:50am, so that was rough. After my MRI I met up with Martia for breakfast at First Watch which was really tasty (eggs benedict, yum!!). Then I went home and took a nap before work (naturally), and had a great day at work. I pulled tower three times (bless, a chair and no guest interaction), and didn't pull greeter or merge at all!!! We also had to emergency stop the ride and go down for like an hour, but luckily all the hard stuff happened while I was on my lunch, and I got off lunch just in time to go reset the track! Fun stuff!

November 7th (Tuesday): I woke up early, made cookies, and had a pizza bagel for breakfast (I really need to go grocery shopping). At work I pulled a lot of busy positions, which is fine as long as guests listen to you and follow direction. I also got to see a bunch of circus friends who rode Mine Train!! So fun seeing them. We also had Fifth Harmony ride, but they rode in small groups to attract less attention.

November 8th (Wednesday): Everyone and their mother forgot their cellphone on the Mine Train, or dropped it outside the vehicle, so that was fun. I also had a bad headache, our kitchen in the apartment was an atrocious disaster, and my breaks came early. So not such a fun day. Also people kept exiting on the wrong side of the mine car, like people there's a barrier there for a reason, not to mention cast members spieling "please exit to your right". Luckily I pulled lots of console positions, so not super stressful positions.

November 9th (Thursday): My NINTH day in a row of work, so I was pretty burnt out and exhausted. We had Holly Madison on the train (the famous Playboy bunny), so I guess that's cool? Also I worked for forty minutes before I realized I forgot my name tag, so that was awesome. AND we were posting a 40-minute wait when it was actually 90. So that wasn't so fun.

November 10th (Friday): I went to Universal in the morning, then went and picked up my parents from the airport. We stopped by my apartment, so they got to see where I live, and we spent the evening in Disney Springs. We got dinner at Homecomin' Kitchen, which is a really fun restaurant in Disney Springs. During dinner, however, we heard that my sister's flight was cancelled due to an exploding bag in the Orlando Airport (overheated lithium camera battery), so we had a few hours of STRESS where we had to book her a different flight through an airline that was still flying to Orlando (everyone but Frontier apparently), and figure out her SuperShuttle thing. So stressful. But thankfully she made it on a flight, even though it was delayed by like four hours, and she got to Orlando at like 10am. We stayed at Coronado Springs on Friday, then the Yacht Club all the other days.

November 11th (Saturday): We met my sister at the Yacht Club, then spent the day in Epcot for the Food & Wine Festival. We tried the Greek nachos, beef and potatoes from Belgium, Thai chicken with peanut sauce, and a few other things. We also rode (via FastPass) Living with the Land, Spaceship Earth, and Soarin'. Then we headed off to Magic Kingdom and rode (mostly via FastPass) Dumbo, Mine Train, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and the PeopleMover. Maybe one or two others as well. We also watched the fireworks, and though we had a spot with a good view, it was INSANELY full of people and super stressful.

November 12th (Sunday): We got up nice and early to go to Animal Kingdom before park open and get in line for Flight of Passage. We got to DAK around 8:35am, the park was scheduled to open at 9am, but they were already letting people through. I'm guessing people were starting to get backed up behind security and so they opened to park to help with crowd control. That's just a guess though. We ended up waiting about an hour for FoP, and when we got off they were already posting 200 minutes so PHEW. After that we used a FP for Everest, then went to Festival of the Lion King where my wonderful roommate hooked us up with front row seats and a cast meet and greet!! THANKS JANI!!!! SO AMAZING. My dad was chosen to lead the elephant section, so that was fantastic.

We also rode Kilimanjaro Safari and Dinosaur with FP, and walked both the Maharaj Jungle Trek and Gorilla Falls trails. After DAK we went to Epcot for Food & Wine day two, and got the spicy Ethiopian lentil stew, potstickers from China, a cocktail and beef and potatoes from France, and beer cheese soup and filet mignon from Canada. We also rode Nemo and got to close out the park on the Frozen ride! We waited maybe 20 minutes for it.

Fantastic weekend with the fam!! More on our family vacation to come :)

Week Forty-One: "Where do the dwarfs poop and pee?"

I was at the mine all week again, remember when I worked in the circus? I kind of miss the circus but they won't schedule me there at all, so that's a bummer.

October 30th (Monday): I worked from 3:15pm - 10:45pm. I did laundry in the morning before heading off to work, and work was weird. I pulled FastPass twice (my least favorite position), and that was a bummer because it was NUTS. The end of the month gets like this because Guest Relations (and some other Cast Member positions) will hand out paper FastPasses as a form of guest recovery if a guest is having issues with their FP media, or is just complaining a lot. These paper FP's are good for the month, so they expired October 31st. Well since it's the end of the month, people are cashing in on those paper FP's (which there are a lot of because they've been circulating all month, and there's a lot by the end of the month). So anyhoo, the FP line gets crazy backed up, which is not fun. ALSO I had this psycho woman at the end of the night. It was Extra Magic Hours (for Disney resort guests only) from 9pm - 11pm, and starting at 9pm we scan people's magic bands before they can enter so we know that they're staying on property. Well this lady grabs her kids and tries to push by me, so I ask to scan a magic band and a kid lets me do it and it says "no current resort reservation" so I'm like "oh, are you staying on property?" and the lady says "oh COME ON" and I'm like "I'm sorry, EMH started 10 minutes ago, the park is now closed to day guests. And she is like "ARE YOU SERIOUS" and I'm like "yes" and she just grabs her kids and pushes past me to get in line anyway, so I say "ma'am, the line is closed to day guests, it's for resort guests only" and she keeps ignoring me and gets in line, so I say "ma'am, I WILL call security" at which point she finally turns around and gets in my face and is like "are you being serious with me right now?!" and I was like "yes, I'm sorry, but the park is closed to day guests" and she stomps off yelling how unmagical her day was. Well, next family in line is like "you handled that SO well, that family actually pushed in front of all of us so we're so glad you turned her away". So that was crazy!!! But I feel good about how I handled it.

October 31st (Tuesday): Day off! For some reason a bunch of us got Halloween off, so we started the day at Epcot and did Colortopia in Innoventions, rode Soarin', the new green Mission: Space, and Test Track. And of course ate around the world for Food & Wine. Then we went to Magic Kingdom and rode Mine Train, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, and Dumbo! And watched Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire, which I had never watched beginning to end.

November 1st (Wednesday): I worked from 7:30am - 4pm. We had Extra Magic Hours in the morning and it was SO slow that we actually sent a few empty trains! Amazing, right! I ended with positions I liked, so it was a good day! Also, I got some compliments from our efficiency Cast Members (trainers who were scheduled to help us hit our numbers), so that felt nice.

November 2nd (Thursday): I worked 1:15pm - 9:45pm and they completely changed our grouping line on us without telling us. So surprise!! We used to have an odds line and an evens line, so we would pull roughly ten people from each line, and could fill every seat in the train. Now we have one line, so it's easier to group, but harder to fill a train. Because we used to pair odd parties, but now they're all mixed together so you have an empty seat here and there. But I think it's actually a little easier. Also I had a family come through with a kid that had no shoes, and when I said they needed shoes to ride, they told me that they lost them. How do you lose a pair of shoes? So that was weird. Oh, and I had a billion wheelchairs when I was in charge of our wheelchair guests, so that got a little hectic.

November 3rd (Friday): I worked from 2pm - 10:15pm and had the CUTEST little girl come through. I was a FP and a family came up and was just like "we couldn't find a FP, can we come through?" and I was like "sure, why not, let's make a little magic" and when they came back out the little girl came and gave me the biggest hug. She was SO CUTE!!! I mostly pulled positions I really like, and my bump out came SUPER early, so my last half hour I got paid to sit in the break room. Great day.

November 4th (Saturday): I worked from 10:15am - 9:45pm. I was supposed to be bridge support from 7pm - 9:45pm, but they pulled me to mine because they were short. THANK GOODNESS because I hate bridge support. Work was pretty good, I got more compliments from our efficiency team at grouper. Also, we had a VIP tour group waltz on up the exit, which means they were high profile apparently a group of Disney Channel stars (but I didn't recognize any of them). There's also a possibility it was Nick Lachey and crew. I don't now, I don't recognize any of the famous people. And I got to stop the ride at one point because a lady sprinted back into the station while the train was moving to grab her popcorn bucket (insert major eye roll here, what part of that seems like a good idea).

November 5th (Sunday): I worked from 4pm - midnight, my first real closing shift! I closed grouper so I got to end my night with a ride through, which is wonderful :') I also had a guy come up to me that apparently graduated from my high school back in 2011, two years before my graduation! So that's a crazy small world. I also had the FUNNIEST little boy come up to me in line (he was probably four or five years old) and he's like "excuse me I have a question" and I'm like "sure, what's up?" "where do the dwarfs pee and poop?" HAHAHAHAHA this kid was concerned that he would see dwarf pee and poop on the ride! SO FUNNY AND CUTE. His mom is like "I'm sure they have bathrooms" so I went along with it and told him that dwarfs wanted to keep the ride nice and clean for the guests. That was probably my favorite question I've ever been asked. AND THEN (funny stories continue) I was at a console where you check lap bars and send the train and I had a guy with a prosthetic leg that couldn't fit both knees (because of the prosthetic) under the lap bar. He asked me where the exit was so I pointed, assuming it was because he was going to exit. Then he tells me "I was just asking because I'll fit fine if I take off the prosthetic" so I'm like yeah for sure, do what you gotta do, assuming he'll just take it off and ride with the prosthetic, because people do that sometimes. Nope, he hands it to me to wait for him at the exit. So here I am, marching down to unload (the exit), holding a man's lower prosthetic leg, tennis shoe and everything to tell that Cast Member "this is for the guest in train 6, row 4". My coordinator had to leave the station, he was laughing so hard. And the man was SUPER nice about it, it just looked ridiculous, me holding this leg. But he fit and got to ride, so all is well!

And that sums up my week! MY FAMILY COMES ON FRIDAY AND I AM SO EXCITED!!!!! I got EIGHT days off in a row BLESS.